Protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear. King Lear begins the play as a conceited, shallow character, concerned with power and appearances rather than responsibility and genuine devotion. After a period of increasing insanity, King Lear experiences an epiphany that leads to his remorse, humility, and empathy. However, the play ends tragically, with the death of King Lear's daughter and Lear's return to madness. The play takes its eponymous protagonist from the mythological Leir of Britain, whose story appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's twelfth-century pseudohistory, Historia Regum Britanniae (The History of the Kings of Britain). According to that text, Leir ruled in the eighth century B.C.E. However, no account of Leir is recognized as verifiable history.